Since 2020, the Dramatists Guild of America has recognized the month of April as National Playwriting and Composing Month. In years past, the Guild has celebrated by organizing events centering around the completion and presentation of new plays by playwrights at various stages of their careers. Today, National Playwriting and Composing Month is known colloquially as "End of Play," a month-long opportunity for playwrights and composers to work on long-form and short-form projects, not unlike National Novel Writing Month, which fiction writers often observe in November.
In this six-week virtual class, participants will choose their own path toward reaching "End of Play" of their respective projects, providing each other with feedback during facilitated workshop readings, culminating in a series of virtual presentations of their completed drafts. Whether you prefer to write by the seat of your pants (a Pantser) or you meticulously outline your work before committing a single line of dialogue to the page, Make Your Way to "End Of Play" is a class for anyone who has a full length or one act project they wish to develop with support from playwriting peers across the country.
Sam Heyman (he/they) is a queer, Jewish playwright, novelist, and educator based in Nashville, TN. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Sam is an active part of his writing community, both locally as an instructor for The Porch Writers Collective and virtually as producer of the Playwrights Thriving Reading Series. Sam’s plays have been developed with support from the Sewanee Writers Conference, the Valdez Theatre Conference, the Midwest Dramatists Conference, the Desert Playwrights Retreat, and the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, among other organizations. In 2025, Sam’s play, [the inner universe] was an Epiphanies New Works Festival semi-finalist and was presented as part of the inaugural Act Out, Diva! New Play Festival in Asbury Park, NJ. Additionally, Sam's play, The Lover and the Fighter was named a semi-finalist for the 2025 Del Shores Foundation Writers Search. With plays and prose published by Ordinary Space, Typehouse Literary Magazine, CBR, Meeple Mountain, River and South Review, and Smith and Kraus, Sam's plays can be found on New Play Exchange.
"I went from knowing almost nothing about playwriting to feeling capable of actually creating something cool. Thanks, Sam!"
"Sam taught an excellent class. I liked the blend of instruction and practical exercises. More playwright content, please!"
"This was a great class that felt very accessible as someone just entering this specific sphere of playwriting, but also back into creative writing in general after years out. Sam delivered good examples of the subject matter and breakdowns that gave thought and insight."
